Claims that a university unduly influenced an elderly widow to change her will and make inter vivos gifts to the institution are barred by statutes of limitations. Baars v. Campbell University Inc., et al. (N.C. Ct. App., No. COA01-60, Feb. 5, 2002).
Gladys Campbell, a widow with no children, executed a will in 1984 that gave most of her estate to two charities, her brother-in-law, and several of her nieces and nephews. In 1986, Mrs. Campbell responded to a fundraising campaign by Campbell University (no relation), which Mrs. Campbell had attended from 1923-24. After this, school officials began paying a great deal of attention to her. In 1988, William A. Johnson, the university's counsel, drafted a new will for Mrs. Campbell. The will contained bequests to Mrs. Campbell''s nieces and nephews, two charities, and Campbell University, as well as a provision naming Norman A. Wiggins, Campbell University's President and Chief Executive Officer, the executor of her estate. Until her death in 1996, Mrs. Campbell made several inter vivos transfers to the university, set up a charitable remainder trust, and another university official was named her attorney in fact.
On June 15, 2000, Mrs. Campbell's brother and sister, as well as a nephew and niece, filed a civil complaint alleging that the university and Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wiggins unduly influenced Mrs. Campbell and breached their fiduciary duty to her while acquiring inter vivos transfers of Mrs. Campbell''s assets in favor of the university. The plaintiffs asked that the court impose a constructive trust on all assets that Campbell University acquired from Mrs. Campbell during her life or after her death. The trial court granted the defendants' motions to dismiss based, inter alia, on the statutes of limitations. The plaintiffs appealed, arguing that their cause of action was a claim for constructive fraud, which has a ten-year statute of limitations.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirms the trial court''s dismissal. The court rules that the plaintiffs'' complaint does not satisfy the elements of constructive fraud, and that their valid causes of action are governed by three-year statutes of limitations. The court also rejects the plaintiffs'' allegations that Mr. Wiggins and Campbell University exercised undue influence over Mrs. Campbell and violated the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct, holding that the Rules 'are not designed to be a basis for civil liability.'
For the full-text of this decision, go to: https://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/2002/010060-1.htm.
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